Screw
by Satan Abraham
Summary: Because he had a problem, and even his normal ways of distracting himself, of clearing his head, weren't working. But that was the funny thing about it, wasn't it? He didn't get crushes, and when he did he could get rid of them, but not this time. [multichapter] [manga!verse] [shinji-centric] [non-program au]
1. Chapter 1

He let the ball bounce a few times against the asphalt before taking a few long strides and capturing it again. It was hot, it was summer – and while normally on a day like this he'd be sleeping inside with his clothes off or finding Yutaka or Nanahara or Sugimura to screw around with, or maybe finding some girl to _screw – _but he was here. Alone, with a basketball and a hoop and he just wasn't feeling it.

But he couldn't help it. He needed to clear his head, even though it was hot as Hell out here and he'd already shed more clothes than he probably should have in a public place, and basketball was the best way to do that. He worked methodically around the court, taking jump shots and three-pointers and free throws and making every single one. Or, rather, only choosing to remember the ones he made, which was most of them. Every so often a hook shot would go awry, even after working at it, it was a gamble whether one of those would go in, but he did the same shot over and over until he _did _do it.

Genius, athletic, naturally gifted or not, some things you just had to _work _on.

But it had been at least two hours since he'd come out here and he was getting nowhere. Something simple like taking shots should have helped him work though things, but it wasn't, and he was still stuck. At least now he had an excuse for a shower, even though he'd taken one this morning. "Bad for your skin, Mimura," he muttered to himself, though his skin was perfect and one extra shower wouldn't hurt anything.

His phone buzzed and he headed for his bag, similarly hoping that it would be Nanahara and not. Nanahara, that was the root of his problem – Shuuya Nanahara, self-proclaimed rockstar and second-most popular guy in the class, was his problem. If he would have thought this even a year ago, he'd have laughed at himself. Nothing bothered him.

But it wasn't Nanahara.

"Yo, Yutaka," Shinji said. He held the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he packed up his bag. "What's up?"

Yutaka's voice came through faintly and static-y. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Go on the roof, I can't hear a thing you're saying," Shinji said, and he heard Yutaka mutter a little, but two minutes later it was better. "Better. And I might be busy, might not be. What's the deal? You busy?"

"Well, maybe, if you're not," Yutaka said. He laughed a little, and Shinji tilted his head away from the phone a bit. "Kidding. Sugimura and Nanahara are up for it-"

"Up for _what_, man?" Shinji asked, irritated. He liked Yutaka, he really did – the kid did have some balls, and he was good for a laugh, but sometimes he could be a pain in the ass. "And how do you know they're up for it? Am I seriously the last guy you called? Cold, man."

"Actually, it was Nanahara's idea-"

"_Nanahara _didn't even call me first?"

"Shinji, would you shut up?" Yutaka asked, and Shinji shut up. Normally he would have kept going, ribbed him a little more, got the old blood-pusher pumping hard, but Yutaka sounded a little pissed and Shinji himself didn't have the energy to do it. "Anyway, we're just gonna hang out. Meet up, eat something, maybe go wandering around-"

"Pick up chicks?" Shinji offered. The other end was quiet.

"You might," Yutaka said. Shinji sighed and flopped over onto his back, grabbing his phone just before he hit the ground so it wouldn't crack. "So, are you up for it?"

"Gotta check my schedule, little man," Shinji said. Yutaka waited, patiently, while Shinji did nothing but stare up at the sky and eventually sighed again. "Might be able to fit it in. When's this planned for? Or did you not decide yet?"

"Noon, about," Yutaka said. "But we could change it, if you can't come then-"

"Chill, little man," Shinji said. "I can make it. Meet you at your house, then? Eleven?"

"You won't be there until twelve-thirty," Yutaka said, and Shinji laughed, putting a hand up to block the sun from his eyes.

"You know me too well," he said, sitting up. He should get back to his place, shower up, and maybe go hang out somewhere. Pick up a girl or two. "But, nah, I'll be there at eleven. We can talk strategy."

"Strategy? For what?"

"The _girls, _Yutaka. The _girls."_

"Why do you need a-"

"You disappoint me, little man. You disappoint me," Shinji said, sighing so heavily that Yutaka would have to be deaf not to hear it. "But I've gotta go now. See you tomorrow, then."

He hung up and stood, slinging his bag over one shoulder and wiping sweat out of his eyes as he walked. School would be starting up again soon, and while he didn't really mind the whole environment of school, it got boring when everyone around him was so goddamned stupid. He wanted to distract himself from the fact that it was coming with sex and – yep, he had a few condoms stuck in the sides of his bag – even if girls thought they liked the look of sweat, none of them really liked the smell, so he'd go home and shower.

Except he didn't get the chance. He was walking, debating pulling out his headphones because he was still feeling pissy, when he ran into her. Both of them stumbled back, neither expecting the other, and when he saw who it was he could barely hold back another sigh. It wasn't like he didn't like looking at her, because psycho bitch or not, Mitsuko Souma's body was one of great sexiness.

"Well," Souma said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't expect to run into you today."

Her voice made it clear what she was expecting, and while his body may have switched from wanting a shower to wanting Souma, his brain was still stuck on the shower. But if he stayed long enough, he'd end up doing it anyway, so he brushed past her. "Can't," he called back. "Busy."

But she grabbed onto his wrist and she pulled him into an alley – she was good at finding those, good at seeking out the seediest, weirdest places that people didn't look in out of principle so that she could do things like this in the middle of the day – and then she was against the wall and he was kissing her. _You win this round, Little Shinji, _he managed to think. _Damn, you're a determined little guy. _

It would have progressed, he knew that it would have progressed past his body pinning hers against the wall, but she stopped it. She grabbed his face and held him a few inches away, smiling a little at the power she thought she held. "What happened to being busy?" she asked, and he took a few steps back.

"Still am," he said. "And you're not my type, anyway."

"Your type?" Souma asked, glancing pointedly at his crotch. "I wasn't aware you had a type. Anything with a cunt and a pulse is what I thought – and is the first one even necessary? I've heard some delicious things about you and our favorite budding musician."

His blood ran cold at that, but he was nothing if not an actor, so he laughed a little. "Where the hell did you hear that?" he asked. He tried not to think about his erection, which was almost painfully obvious now – and painful in more ways than one, he'd never been good at holding back his sexual impulses and Mitsuko Souma had never made it easy.

"Did I hit a sore spot?"

"No," Shinji said. He stretched, felt his back crack, and almost leaned on where Yutaka would be on a normal day. "I just thought all of the rumors were about me and Yutaka. I mean, there's no way I'd be friends with him otherwise, isn't that what they say?"

"You don't look at Yutaka Seto the same way you look at Shuuya Nanahara," Souma said. She trailed her fingers down her body, and Shinji wasn't sure if she knew she was doing it or it was just part of her nature, to be as sexual as possible at all times.

"You mean, I don't have to look down when I'm talking to Nanahara," Shinji said, and Souma shrugged, her smile playing into a pouty smile. He tried not to think about it. He failed and sucked in a breath, crossing his arms. "And what do you want, anyway? Just trying to fuck with me?"

"Or fuck you, whichever comes first," Souma said. "I get bored so easily, you know. And while you're a little young, I've been trying to make the rounds through our classmates."

"Even the girls?"

"Oh, it's good to have those talents, too," she said. She pinned him with a look. "But I don't think we have any more business here."

Shinji responded by grabbing her and shoving her back up against that wall, kissing her and groping her, and he was fairly certain that she was laughing, but he didn't really care at the moment. He didn't feel bad about his conquests, but he'd never even _thought _about feeling bad about Mitsuko Souma. She was a bitch, she was a whore, and he was fairly certain that she was prostituting out Shimizu and Yahagi, so if he used her to get rid of some frustration, it was fine. He didn't give a shit about her, and she didn't give a shit about anyone, so he didn't feel bad when he pulled down his shorts, fished a condom from his bag, and went up under her skirt. She wasn't even wearing panties to get in the way, and he wouldn't have bothered with the condom if he wasn't worried about catching something from her.

But she laughed when he left, and he flipped her off. He'd been planning on taking a shower anyway, so smelling like sex and sweat wouldn't be a problem for very much longer. The one thing that bothered him was what she'd said about Shuuya. And not because it was weird – he could handle the rumors about Yutaka, laughed them off, encouraged them, even, because they were so damn weird to think of – but because it was _true. _Because that was his problem. That was his entire goddamned problem.

Shuuya Nanahara, and his _feelings _for the guy. It was stupid. It was the most idiotic thing in the world, because he didn't get crushes, he didn't have feelings for people, and the few times he had, he'd managed to get rid of them with a quick fuck with someone else. But his feelings for Shuuya hadn't disappeared, no matter how many girls he slept with or how many hoops he shot or how many times he jerked off, just trying to get it out of his system.

Nothing worked, and meeting up with him tomorrow would probably only make it worse.

* * *

><p><strong>So, I can't say how much this will be updated, or how long it'll be, or if it'll even be finished. It just hit me that I'd taken myself seriously whilst writing Shinji about once, and that was when writing a ShuuyaShinji oneshot, and… well, I decided to write more of that. The oneshot's called Three Pointer, if you want to know. And… I may rewrite that scene and shove it in here at some point, but. Yeah.**


	2. Chapter 2

He had intended to get to Yutaka's by eleven. He really had – he'd even thought about setting an alarm before collapsing at about two in the morning and sleeping until one. He probably would have slept longer if Yutaka hadn't taken matters into his own hands.

"Fuck's sake," Shinji muttered, rolling onto his back. Yutaka paused the bouncing and got off of Shinji's bed. "'s the time? Ah, shit. Was gonna wake up. Forgot to set an alarm."

"Right," Yutaka said. He grabbed Shinji's leg and yanked, and Shinji just missed being castrated by a bedpost. Yutaka did let go of his leg at this, and Shinji sat up. He hated waking up – he liked being awake, he liked experiencing things and he just plain liked being awake to _do what he needed to do_, but waking up was the bane of his existence. His eyes felt gummy and his stomach lurched around, either from hunger or whatever else, and he wasn't fully awake until an hour after he 'woke up.' "Go shower. Shuuya and Sugimura and Nobu are waiting."

"Nobu, too?" Shinji asked. He swung his legs out of bed and stretched. Yutaka threw a pillow at him.

"Put some pants on, weirdo."

Shinji smirked a little and headed to the bathroom. He turned on the shower to let it warm up and was halfway through brushing his teeth when another thought occurred to him. He did wrap a towel around his waist in an attempt to preserve whatever was left of Yutaka's innocence, and then headed back into his room.

"Hey, that mean we're getting food on our own?"

"Duh," Yutaka said. He was digging around under Shinji's bed. Shinji watched him, more than a little amused.

"A little more to the right and you'll hit porn, to the left it's condoms. Keep going straight and I _think _it's a cache of panties."

Yutaka was out from under his bed faster than Shinji could cackle at him, and Shinji headed back to the bathroom. He spent at least half an hour in the shower – at least, it was long enough to take care of everything, the water to go cold, and Yutaka to get annoyed. He heard Yutaka pound on the door as water ran down his face, freezing him to the bone but at least waking him up a little bit, and called out a justification of the time spent in there and, after a pause, a request for some clothes.

Yutaka had, apparently, just grabbed whatever had been on the floor, because when Shinji opened the bathroom door, he was faced with his basketball shorts. "I meant clothes that look like someone should wear them while they _aren't _playing basketball, midget," Shinji said, and Yutaka made a noncommittal noise. Shinji sighed, grabbed his towel back, and shook his hair out of his eyes as he crossed to his clothes.  
>"You look different with your hair down," Yutaka said, and Shinji glanced over his shoulder at him. Yutaka shrugged, putting up his hands. "You do. You look younger."<p>

"Which is precisely why I spike it," Shinji said. He dug through his clothes for a while, wondering if Yutaka would ever get uncomfortable. He liked pushing the kid's buttons sometimes, and he was running out of ideas. "Can't pick up an older woman if you're looking twelve."

"How many older women have you gone out with?" Yutaka said, and there was so much disbelief in his voice that Shinji was offended. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt that was a little big, slipping on underwear before turning around and responding.

"Gone out with? Zero. _Picked up_? More than you can count, little man," Shinji said. He buttoned his jeans and glanced around. "You seen my sunglasses?"

Yutaka handed them over and Shinji nodded thanks. He studied the shirt he'd picked for the day and tossed it aside, grabbing one that would look better on him. He could feel Yutaka watching him. If it was anyone else it would be creepy, but – it was _Yutaka. _He could take a shower with Yutaka and it wouldn't be weird. Close quarters, naked, wet… none of that would mean a thing if it was Yutaka. He was more of Shinji's adopted kid than anything else.

"You been texting Shuuya and Sugimura?" Shinji asked. "And Nobu?"

"I told them that you weren't at my place when they asked where I was," Yutaka said. He shrugged, and Shinji felt a stab of _something – _betrayal, disappointment, what have you – at not getting that text. But instead of saying something, even though it was right on the tip of his tongue and he had to bite down hard to keep it from escaping, he just turned and slid his shirt over his head. He took his sunglasses into the bathroom with him, feeling for the hoop in his ear. Still there. He'd lost it, once – he wore it to bed, he wore it to bed every single night, and one night it came undone. He'd been twenty minutes late to school looking for it.

It had become a bit of a nervous habit. But it was a justified nervous habit, not some shit like biting your fingernails. So it stayed in his ear, and he made sure it was there, because if he lost it he'd lose his uncle. He'd lose the last physical thing the man had left him – sure, he'd have the skills, the hacking and the basketball and everything like that, but he'd lose something tangible. Something to really hold onto.

It didn't take him long to spike his hair, in part because he was so practiced at it, but he took a while to hear Yutaka pound on the door again. He half-wished that his parents were home, so that they'd get pissed at Yutaka making a shit-ton of noise, but they weren't. They weren't on a normal day, and it was early afternoon. No way in hell they were anywhere near The Mimura Residence. Most likely his father was fucking some whore in a cheap motel room and his mother was sitting stick-straight somewhere with a plastic smile on her face.

"You take so _long, _and I'm starving," Yutaka complained. Shinji grinned, peeling his lips back in a sort of half-grin, half-smirk, and grabbed Yutaka around the neck. "Ack! Mim, can't – breathe-"

"Oh, stop being such a baby," Shinji said. "Can't believe you waited for me."

Yutaka's face darkened, though Shinji did think that was because of the lack of air, so he let go of Yutaka's neck and settled with mussing up his hair as they headed downstairs. He headed for the kitchen, because he was pretty _starving, _and he could grab something quick. Yutaka, who had been in this exact situation several times before, sat on the counter and watched him. It was calm. It was peaceful. It was probably the best damn time of Shinji's week, if he was being honest with himself.

He enjoyed being around Yutaka Seto. There were some people that you just _clicked _with, and Yutaka was one of those people. Their personalities didn't seem to match up, if you didn't look close enough – but, hell, they fit together perfectly. So Shinji made him food and they sat and they ate it and they talked and then it was time to meet Sugimura, Shuuya, and Nobu, approximately three hours late.

Shuuya looked like he wanted to be mad at them, but Shinji knew from experience that he'd stay mad for about five minutes and then be back at them with a grin. So Shinji just beamed at him, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Did you bring condoms? Because I'm not sharing mine."

Sugimura turned beet-red and Shuuya's frown melted.

"Why, scared I'll break them?"

"Oh, you wish," Shinji said. Shuuya laughed at this, and Shinji threw an arm around his shoulders. There was a strange heat radiating from Shuuya's body – something that Shinji was almost entirely sure he was imagining, something that couldn't exist, because Nobu was right on Shuuya's other side and he didn't look uncomfortable in the least. But Shinji was sweating, Shinji loosened his collar and Sugimura was looking at him like he knew what was going on and Shinji hated him.

So he took a few steps away from Shuuya and put his elbow on Yutaka's head.

"So, let's get this show on the road. What's the plan for the day? We got one, or are we just going to take it as it comes?"

"Us three saw the movie we were going to see," Shuuya said, gesturing to himself, Sugimura, and Nobu. "But now _I've _got nothing, so if you want to do something in particular it's on you."

"I'm cool with just hanging," Shinji said. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked down at Yutaka. "What about you, little man? You got anything special you want to do?"

Yutaka didn't have anything he especially wanted to do, either, and, after wandering a bit, they ended up in an arcade that Shinji had been in quite a few times before – the latest being with Iijima, that cowardly bastard – and had the high score on half of the machines. Today would be a good day to get a high score on the other half, he figured.

He ended up playing some racing game against Shuuya, who was better than Nobu and Sugimura but still not near as good as Shinji himself. "You need some practice, Jesus," Shinji said after winning his third race. He turned to look at Shuuya, who was bent over the controls, the tip of his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. "Hey."

Shuuya looked up at him, and Shinji felt heat rush to his face for some reason, some _inconceivable_, _stupid_ reason, so he looked away and was glad for the sunglasses. "What?" Shuuya asked, and when Shinji didn't answer, he nudged him in the side. "Hey, seriously. You forget while looking at my beautiful face?"

"Oh, you wish," Shinji said. He turned back and smirked, shoving Shuuya back a bit. "Just decided that someone who can't beat me at video games isn't someone I want to spill my soul to."

"You have a soul?" Shuuya asked, his voice taking on a tone of mock horror. "I'm shocked! I thought you just sort of leeched off of Seto."

"Oh, you shut up," Shinji said. Shuuya did, but not after giving Shinji another half-grin that made Shinji want to beat him at the game again.

"Hey, so half the kids at the orphanage want to know when you're coming back. They love you. Apparently climbing all over me and Nobu just isn't the same."

Shinji had a vague memory of trying to stay in his position while at least five kids crawled all over him, their little hands grasping his shirt and pulling, stretching it out, sprawling over onto him.

It wasn't exactly an experience he was dying to repeat.

And, really, if he wanted this stupid-as-all-hell crush to go away, he should be staying _away _from Shuuya, not hanging out with him.

Fuck it.

"Tomorrow?"

* * *

><p><strong>This is fun to write even if I don't know where it's going. Agh.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

He'd been awake since eight, but had done nothing around his place for a while before deciding to head off to the orphanage. It was this stupid thing dragging him there – the stupid thing and the promise he'd made to Shuuya, that he'd let the little brats crawl all over him – and no matter how much he tried to drag his feet he was there faster than he'd ever been before. He looked at it over his sunglasses and noted that there wasn't even a welcoming committee. This either meant that the kids didn't want to see him as much as he'd thought, or Shuuya'd thought that he'd flake and the kids would be disappointed.

He wanted it to be the former, but had a feeling that it was the latter.

So he headed around back, because he knew from experience that there were always a ton of kids around there climbing all over the jungle gym. He was right, of course – and as soon as he passed into view a little girl shrieked at the top of her lungs, flung herself off of the swing set, and came barreling into him at about a hundred miles per hour.

"Woah!" he said, stumbling backward but managing to catch himself. The girl latched onto his leg and looked up at him, and he had an uncomfortable flashback to the time he'd gotten a blowjob from Mitsuko Souma. Then he shook that out of his head and dragged himself over to the group of older kids, child hanging onto his leg and all. "Hey-"

"Can you teach me how to make a basket?" one of the older boys asked, interrupting him, and Mimura wondered if he'd ever promised to do that. Probably. Or, more probable, he'd mentioned that he was _boss _at basketball and they'd latched on.

"Later. Hey, where's Shuuya?" Shinji asked. "I told him I'd show up, let some kids crawl all over me, and I'm not totally sure he believed me."

"He's not here," the boy who wanted to know how to play basketball. "He went out. With a girl. Nobu's here, though."

"A girl? Whatever," Shinji said. "Take me to Nobu."

"When will you-"

"_Later, _kid. Jesus. I gotta talk to Nobu," Shinji said. He barely noticed the weight of the little girl on his leg now, but when her friend decided to take his other leg hostage, he glanced down at them and wondered if they'd cry if he tried to pry them off. "You know a way of freeing me?"

The kid, who was apparently a little bit angry about not getting to know the perfect hook shot just yet, smirked and shook his head, so Shinji dragged the girls through the house. He tried not to look at the woman who ran the orphanage, because if he was being totally honest, he didn't trust her, as much as Nobu and Shuuya seemed to like her. He thought that she waved, or said hi, or something, but he didn't say anything back. He just kept walking, slow and clunky as his steps might be.

Nobu was up in the room that he shared with Shuuya, lying on his stomach on his bed with homework spread out in front of him. Shuuya's bed was messy with a guitar thrown over it, and Shinji wandered over and touched a few of the strings. He'd thought about picking up guitar once or twice, but he didn't need an instrument to attract a girl.

"Hey, Nobu," Shinji said. He gave in and sat down on the floor, and this attracted another child, this one a boy, who threw himself over Shinji's midsection. "Shuuya told me to show up today, but he skipped out."

"Oh, yeah, he mentioned you might stop by," Nobu said. He glanced up, laughed a little at the children crawling all over Shinji, and then went back to his homework. "He did seem kind of doubtful, though. He was talking about going out with someone for a while, I guess he let you say tomorrow-"

"Because he didn't think I'd show," Shinji said. He sighed, leaned his head back, and a child immediately set to work on playing with his hair. "Does he really think I'm that flaky? I told the man I'd come, and here I am."

"You were about four hours late yesterday," Nobu said, and Shinji frowned.

"That was different. I slept in."

Nobu made a noise that could be agreement but probably wasn't, and Shinji accepted his fate. He'd thought ahead, just worn sweatpants and a hoodie today in anticipation of them being covered with little grubby handprints and stretched out, and when a child sneezed on him, he knew he'd been right.

"Daiki, get a tissue," Nobu said without looking up from his homework, and the kid immediately stood up and hurried away.

"How the hell do you do that?" Shinji asked. There were whispers and a few little horrified shrieks from the children and he sighed. "Sorry. Why do they listen to you?"

"Because they know me," Nobu said.

"Oh, they're familiar enough with me to use me as liberally as that jungle-gym they love so much-"

"Nobu, I just was on the _best _date of my life, oh wow you actually showed up."

Shinji looked up to see Shuuya Nanahara, grinning in a button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of nice jeans. If anyone had that sort of look down, it was Shuuya – his hair was a little long, and that didn't usually _work _for guys, just like short hair on girls, but on him it made Shinji want to hit him, if he was being honest.

"Yes," Shinji said. A child placed her hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes so deeply that he shifted uncomfortably. "Why does this one look like she's either going to kiss me or kill me?"

Shuuya picked the little girl up and deposited her out of his room, and then continued releasing Shinji from his prison until there was only the original little girl, who was still clinging stubbornly to his leg.

"Leave her," Shinji said, waving his hand dismissively and sighing. "I think that's a bigger work-out than anything I've done in the past thirty years."

"Mimura, you're like halfway to thirty."

Shinji shook his head and didn't bother answering. He just looked up at Shuuya, with his eyes half-lidded. The picture wasn't the best – it was all blurry, and the angle sort of made him look like he had at least three chins, but it really said a lot about a guy when you didn't mind. And a lot about the guy not minding.

Like, _fuck that 'I don't get crushes' thing, because I have one on one of my best fucking friends. I'm such a fucking-_

He shook his head clear of that and pushed himself up to sit on Shuuya's bed. The little girl finally let go of Shinji and ran, and he bent over and massaged out his leg. He didn't know how she did it, but it seriously felt like she'd pinched a nerve or something. Damn little kids.

"I played with the children," Shinji said. Shuuya sat down next to him and picked up his guitar, picking at strings in a way that Shinji would never understand. "And now it's your turn to play with me. Give me some attention."

"Attention? Don't you get enough of that from girls?"

That was probably the worst comparison he could have made, and as well as that, Nobu was right across the room, so Shinji couldn't very well _do _anything about it unless he wanted to push it off as a joke, so Shinji just sighed.

"Look, man, we've been hanging out less and less. Just come shoot some hoops with me at some point, right? Or tell me about this 'date' you went on."

"Are you making air quotes because you don't believe in dating or because you don't believe I _had _a date?"

"Both. Now spill. Who was it? How big are her tits? Did you get any action?"

"No, no, and no."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shinji said, frowning. He watched Shinji's fingers as they played. They were long – piano player's fingers, he'd heard someone say that once about people with long fingers, though he guessed the same was probably true of guitar players. They were calloused, and his fingernails were clipped short. Shinji could understand the short fingernails; he, in fact, kept his fairly short so that they wouldn't get in the way when he typed. It was just a thing that you _did _when you had to do a lot of shit with your hands.

Shuuya laughed, but didn't answer him. He kept picking away, and eventually went into what sounded like a song.

"You're shit at this," Shinji mused. Shuuya paused in his playing long enough to give him the finger and kept playing. Nobu rolled off of his bed and hit the floor with a _thud_! and Shinji jumped a little.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Shuuya called, and in stepped the woman herself. Shinji didn't exactly remember her name – Ryouka, or something like that, he hadn't paid much attention to her except the fact that she did have a killer body. He didn't look at her now, though. He was still watching Shuuya's fingers.

"Oh, you have company," she said, and Shinji glanced up, met her eyes for a second, and tipped off a wave. "This is your friend, I remember him-"

"Shinji Mimura," Shinji said. He managed a sort-of smile, because he was fairly certain that one of the kids had repeated one or two of the words he'd said, and he was fairly certain that she was not happy about that.

"Shuuya, Nobu – I just came up to tell you a few times. One, lunch will be ready soon, and two, Daiki has been saying a few words that I'm not sure a boy of his age should be saying," she said, looking at them all reproachfully. "I know how teenage boys work, but if you could control your language…"

"Sorry," Shinji said. That sort-of smile was still stuck on his face. "That was me, actually. Not used to being around little kids, I guess. It's just me at home, so I never have to watch my language there."

She studied him, and he stayed still, the part of him in his pants thinking that, _maybe, _if he'd worn something a little better, he could get laid this afternoon. But eventually she nodded.

"Right," she said. "I was an only child myself. I understand how it is, sometimes. If you'd like to join us for lunch…?"

"Nah," Shinji said, standing up. He fist-bumped Shuuya and nudged Nobu with his shoe as a farewell, then headed for the door. "I should get going."

"Feel free to stop in again!" she called after him, but he was almost one hundred percent sure that she didn't mean it in the least. He was also one hundred percent sure that, had Nobu not been on the other bed/on the floor, he definitely would have made a move on Shuuya Nanahara.

In other news, thank God for Yoshitoki Kuninobu.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm… still not sure where this is going, but I'm still having tremendous fun with it.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

School starting again was not necessarily something that Shinji Mimura was looking forward to. He had the weekend to contemplate how fucking much it was going to suck, that was true – but the impending doom of the fact that he was going to have to magically fix his sleep schedule by Monday sort of ruined it.

He hadn't felt like being around the house, and he didn't want to try and get involved with Shuuya again – this time Nobu might not be there, and if Nobu wasn't there… well, then Shinji would probably kiss Shuuya, and that wouldn't end well for either Shinji's crush or their friendship. He could've asked someone else to hang; Yutaka or maybe even Sugimura, but he'd decided against it.

So he was alone shooting hoops again. At the place he frequented, his bag thrown to the side carelessly with his phone on top. Just in case someone decided to call, text, or in any other way try to contact him. Maybe he should've asked a girl out. Chisato, maybe – not for sex, not _her, _but she wasn't bad. He liked hanging out with her, and she was pretty cute.

Or he could ask out someone for sex. But he didn't want another encounter with someone like Mitsuko Souma, not right now. When they weren't around he could convince Little Shinji that he didn't want it, but if he were to contact Souma…

It would just be best if he didn't. So he shot hoops alone. He worked his way around the court, moving from the free-throw line to the half-court line to several spots on the three-point line. He was most comfortable taking outside shots. Not only was it more flashy, and therefore something that he'd liked to practice when he was younger, but nobody really expected you to take the half-court shot if you weren't trying for a buzzer-beater. He was good at dribbling, too, and he could get in close and make a lay-up if he had to, but he'd prefer to just have a few tall guys on post to take care of that if it needed to happen.

He was so focused on shooting hoops, in fact, that he didn't notice Shuuya Nanahara standing underneath the hoop until he noticed that the ball hadn't hit the ground. He glanced up and was more surprised than he'd like to say to see Shuuya standing there, but he got over it quickly.

"Hey," he said, nodding. Shuuya took a few steps away from the hoop and made a short jump shot. An easy one, from a favorable angle and not much of a distance. "You playing basketball this year?"

"Maybe," Shuuya said. He looked back at Shinji and grinned. "But team sports don't always agree with me."

"See, you just have to be good enough that they don't try and tell you what to do," Shinji said. He beckoned for the ball and Shuuya passed it over to him. He made another three-pointer from the corner of the court. "Stick with me, man. We'll be a duo that everyone wants to be."

"More like that everyone hates, because we'll end up hogging the ball," Shuuya said, but his voice was bright and when Shinji glanced over at him, he saw that Shuuya was grinning. "But maybe I'll check it out. Basketball's not bad. I like it. It's just not always my thing, you know?"

"Think of all of the pussy you get now, as a rocker guy," Shinji said. Shuuya blinked a few times, but he looked like he was contemplating it. "Add basketball onto that, and you double it. Take my word. I don't even need to play the guitar. I'd go broke buying condoms if I did both."

"Are you saying I _won't?"_

"Well," Shinji said, smirking. "I'm just naturally a lot more attractive than you, so of course that triples the numbers. And what can I say? Chicks dig a rebel."

Shuuya snorted and the two of them spent the next ten minutes not speaking much as they played. Eventually it degenerated into some sort of one-on-one session, complete with Shuuya reaching around Shinji's chest and holding him back when he started to lose. Shinji kicked backward, and the two of them stumbled around for a little bit before Shinji flung himself backward so hard that both of them tipped over.

Shinji was honestly just glad he'd ended up on top, though now he was aware of how close they were. He rolled off of Shuuya and looked him over. Both of his eyes were closed. "You dead?" he asked. Shuuya opened one eye and flipped him off.

"Does the word 'diet' mean anything to you, Mim?"

"Oh, I am 130 pounds of pure muscle, and you know it," Shinji said. He let his gaze pass over Shuuya again. He was lying on his back with his hair messed up, his shirt hiked up to bare his stomach. There was a large scrape on his forearm and the beginnings of a bruise on his shin where Shinji had kicked a little too hard.

"So we were talking about girls earlier," Shuuya said, and Shinji blinked. He didn't know where that had come from.

"I guess we were," Shinji said. "Though the conversation was more about sex than the girls themselves-"

"Yeah, yeah," Shuuya said, waving his hand. "You're all about sex, aren't you."

"I… guess?" Shinji said. He was feeling increasingly more uncomfortable. "Not going to lie, man, but this is a weird conversation and I'm not totally sure I'm comfortable with the direction it seems to be going in."

"Have you ever… liked someone? I mean, like a real person likes another real person?"

Shinji stared at him for a while and laughed while his heart sort of stuttered and died inside his chest. "Are you talking about a crush? Because man, I've come closer to having a crush on Yutaka than any girl. I want to talk to Yutaka. The only thing I want any girl to do with her mouth is-"

"_Oh-kay,_" Shuuya said, stopping him. "I'm talking overall, though. Jokes about Yutaka aside-"

"Who says I'm joking about my midget?" Shinji said, though he was joking. While it was true that what he felt for Yutaka was more deep than he'd felt for any girl – Chisato maybe could have closed in, but he'd sort of distanced himself from her lately, just to make sure that didn't happen – it was completely platonic. Thinking about being with Yutaka like that ended up making him laugh.

"You are. But seriously. Have you ever felt like that about a guy?"

Shinji's mouth dried up. Shuuya was looking at him with such an intent expression his face; eyes boring into Shinji's soul and jaw set and mouth turned down slightly. He was about sixty percent sure that Shuuya knew. He didn't know _how _Shuuya could know, because he thought that he'd been good about keeping it a secret, but he _could _know, and part of Shinji really thought that he _did _know, and he didn't know how he was supposed to answer-

Just sitting there would give it away. So he laughed. He tipped back his head and laughed, and Shuuya laughed right along with him.

"Sorry, man," Shinji said. "Your come-on won't work. But I'm sure we can find you a nice boy somewhere."

"You too straight for me, Mimura?" Shuuya said. He laughed, too, and with each second he laughed something stabbed deep into Shinji's heart. But he'd always been good at hiding his true feelings. At staying frosty.

So he just nodded and smirked and Shuuya collapsed backward.

"What _ever _will I do, now that my one true chance at love has been destroyed?" he said, and Shinji managed a sort-of laugh. Right. Right, _his _one true chance at love had been destroyed. God, he hadn't _really_ ever wanted to straight-up murder someone before now. This was quickly changing.

It was quiet for a few seconds, and then Shinji flopped down himself. The two of them laid, making a sort of 'L' with their bodies, when Shuuya spoke again.

"So, moving up in the world," he said. "No more middle school."

"Thank God for that," Shinji muttered. "I was starting to feel creepy. You know what's next for us? High school girls. God _damn, _will this be good."

He heard the words coming out of his mouth but he didn't know if he meant any of them. He didn't think he did. He was almost one hundred percent sure that he didn't mean any of it. Sure, he'd have sex with older girls – nothing new, really. But… it wouldn't be good. He had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be good. The sex would probably be good, as far as sex went, but the situation, the feeling… this entire afternoon had proved just exactly _why _it would sure as _hell _not be good.

After a bit more of just lying there, chatting a little back and forth, Shinji feeling worse with every word spoken, Shuuya stood up. "I've gotta get back to the orphanage," he said. He held out a hand to Shinji who brushed him off. Shuuya shrugged. "See you when it all starts up again, huh?"

He didn't wait for Shinji to answer, and Shinji sat up and watched him go. He watched him walk away with that sort of strut that he had and he put his head in his hands and he prayed that he'd end up in a different class than Shuuya Nanahara, because he didn't know how well he'd be able to handle it if he didn't.

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><p><strong>This is never not fun to write I'm telling you this is literally the best thing ever.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

When Shinji Mimura discovered that he would be in the same class as Shuuya Nanahara, he swore for a good five minutes. Then he took a break, got a cup of coffee, and swore again until Yutaka started to look at him like he was insane.

Now the two of them were headed to class – they were in different classes, too, which was _just _the fucking _cherry on top. _Yutaka Seto was a good distraction when one wanted to forget about actual things, and if Shinji was going to have to spend life without him in class, he'd probably go so insane he wouldn't even care when he ended up grabbing Shinji by the tie and kissing him in front of everyone.

"Well… I'll see you later, then," Yutaka said. Shinji scowled and nodded, his hands shoved so deep in his pockets he felt like he was going to burst through the bottoms of them. "But, hey, at least you've got Shuuya!"

"Yeah," Shinji said. He sighed. "Right. Yeah. I've got Shuuya. And you've got Nobu."

"It's like they're splitting up sidekicks and superheroes," Yutaka said, and Shinji did crack a smile at that.

"Yeah, midget, you go learn all about being blunderingly adorable and how to be used as bait by the supervillains," Shinji said. He ruffled Yutaka's hair and shoved him toward his classroom. "But, yeah. See you later. Hey, you want to stop by a coffee place or something on the way home?"

"We can take Shuuya and Nobu!" Yutaka said. Shinji had to bite back another curse, and instead plastered a smile on his face and nodded.

"Right," he said. Yutaka gave him a curious look, like he knew that Shinji was faking it, that Shinji didn't really want to, and was about to spew out some sort of weird explanation for his behavior, but Yutaka just nodded and headed into his classroom. Shinji let out a breath and headed into his own classroom.

Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with Shuuya right away – he stumbled barely on time, and Shinji just had enough time to smirk at him and get a resulting scowl before class started. Shuuya disappeared at lunch, too, which was strange, though Shinji was glad for it. Overall, the day went past without him and Shuuya saying one word to each other.

That was, until basketball.

Shinji had forgotten all about it, which was something kind of amazing in and of itself, until he was with Yutaka. "Oh, shit," he said, remembering. "Basketball. I'll see you later, midget, alright?"

"Oh," Yutaka said, blinking. "Yeah, yeah, I was kind of wondering about that. I guess I just thought you weren't going to this year. Nobu mentioned that Shuuya had been talking about it. I guess I'll find Sugimura or something."

"Yeah, you do that," Shinji said. He headed back to the gym where the first meeting of the basketball team was being held. It was a small high school – Shinji had wanted it just for that, because while he did care about winning, he cared more about playing. It was better to be the best on a losing team (as long as you were good, of course) than to be just another player on a winning one.

"Thought you weren't coming," Shuuya remarked as Shinji entered. Shinji shot him a look. The other first-years were milling around, talking to people they knew and sending nervous looks to one person in the corner that Shinji was absolutely shocked to see.

He grabbed Shuuya's sleeve and pointed. Kazuo Kiriyama stood near the wall, his gaze flat and his arms crossed across his chest. Shuuya nodded. "Yeah, he's in Nobu's class," he said. Shinji frowned.

"Huh, Yutaka didn't mention him," he said. "You'd think he would, wouldn't you? And what the hell's he doing here?"

"Maybe he wanted to try something new," Shuuya said, shrugging. He looked like he was fighting back laughter. Shinji didn't know if it was hysterical laughter or your regular, run-of-the-mill, it's really funny to see this guy at this place laughter, but Shinji wouldn't blame him for either one. Kazuo Kiriyama did look strange in the gym. He was dressed immaculately and his hair was slicked back without a flaw, like usual, and all of it was too… well, too professional-looking for a basketball environment.

Sure, he looked good. Shinji could see that, and he could appreciate the want to look good. Shinji himself looked good, but _his _kind of good – the piercing, the spiked hair, the smirk that he'd perfected early on in his life – was a lot more suited to basketball. Kazuo Kiriyama looked like a strange mix between the heartthrob at the office and a mob boss.

A feeling of rashness came over him and he grinned. "You know what, let's say hi," he said. Shuuya looked at him like he was crazy. "Look at him over there, all alone – yeah, I hope he doesn't stick around, because he's crazy good at just about everything and I'm not handing over my top spot to him, but let's say hi. He's not surrounded by people like Numai right now, it'll be fine. He'll be polite. He's a polite guy, you know?"

"No," Shuuya said, shaking his head, and Shinji snorted. Shuuya clapped Shinji on the back. "I'll come with, but I want you to do all of the talking. It sounds like it'll be funny."

Shinji rolled back his shoulders and headed over to him. Kiriyama didn't look up until Shinji cleared his throat, at which point Kiriyama fixed him with such a gaze that made shivers scurry up and down Shinji's spine.

Kiriyama didn't say anything; he just looked. Shinji held back a shiver and held out his hand.

"Hey, Kiriyama," he said. His hand hung there, suspended, as Kiriyama looked between it and Shinji's face "I didn't know you were interested in basketball."

"It was either this or volleyball," Kiriyama said. "I flipped a coin."

He went back to looking at Shinji's hand.

"Right," Shinji said. He wasn't about to let Kiriyama win, so he leaned and grabbed Kiriyama's hand, giving it a squeeze before letting his own fall back to his side. "So, have you played before?"

"No," Kiriyama said. He looked contemplative. "I saw one of your games last year. That should be enough background."

"Right," Shinji said. "Enough background. To be on a team with a shitton of people who have done this for years. And Shuuya."

Kiriyama flicked his gaze to Shuuya for half of a second and then went back to Shinji.

"It should be enough background," he repeated. "It is true that I might be rough at first, but once I see a little more those errors should be wiped away."

"Sure," Shinji said. "I bet you think you'll be the best, don't you?"

"Yes," Kiriyama said. There was no hesitation in his voice, he snapped it back faster than Shinji thought possible. He blinked once, twice, and then continued. It was weird, watching him construct sentences; Shinji could practically see him think. "After a few minutes, however, I will be the best."

"Right," Shinji said. He smirked, he couldn't help it – something like this was just perfect to get his blood pumping in a way that had nothing to do with wanting Shuuya's hand to move to somewhere rather than his shoulder. "We'll see."

"Yes," Kiriyama said. He held Kiriyama's gaze for a full ten seconds, and that was the moment that Shinji Mimura realized that Shuuya Nanahara was not the only boy that he was ever going to want like this. But he didn't have _time _to figure out his sexual preferences right now, he needed to focus on basketball. The three top things in his life – sex, basketball, and rebelling against the government. He couldn't do all three at the same time, and right now it was basketball time.

The waiting for first years had ended, apparently, because one of the older students had just shut the gym doors. He gave a thumbs up to who Shinji took to be the captain – he wasn't very tall, and sported a scowl and brutally short hair. Shinji met his eyes for a few seconds and swore he saw a flash of recognition in his eyes.

"Alright," he said. "First things first, how many of you haven't ever played on a team before? I'm talking a real team – who didn't play in middle school?"

Only a few kids raised their hands, Shuuya and Kiriyama among them. The captain nodded again, biting on his pinky nail.

"You three, I want you over there with Mizushima. He's the nice-looking one. We use him for the kids who don't know what they're doing. You others, you're each getting paired with one of our starters so that we can see what we can make of you. You-" he pointed straight at Shinji. "-with the spiky hair and earring that you're going to have to take out at games, I'm taking you."

Shinji nodded, and the captain grabbed him by the elbow and steered him over to one of the baskets. "Mimura, isn't it? You used to play for Shiroiwa Junior High? Made all of those ridiculous outside shots?"

"Right," Shinji said. The captain nodded, contemplative, and then spoke again.

"I want you to show me. Go all the way around the three-point line, try one from the half-court line, and then do some inside shots, too. You did all of that flashy dribbling at your guys' last game of the season, and that's a stupid thing to do, but it worked, so I assume you can shoot close, too."

"Of course," Shinji said, and wondered if he'd missed the captain's name or if he hadn't given it. Either way, the captain got a basketball in his hands and stepped back, and Shinji was able to clear everything and everyone from his mind as he made shot after shot. He flubbed one of the three-pointers and one of the layups, but other than that, _nothing but net, baby. _When he was finished, the captain had cracked what looked like it could've been a smile.

"Nice," the boy that the captain had called Mizushima called. "That's the first time I've ever seen Tanaka smile, and we've lived next door to each other for _years._"

"Give me the ball," a voice said at his elbow, and Mimura turned to see Kazuo Kiriyama. "I want to do it."

"No," Shinji said. He took another shot and let it breeze through the hoop. Tanaka caught it and, Kiriyama's chance shot, Shinji was able to relax. A more rational part of him knew that there was no way that Kiriyama would be able to copy him, but the part of him that knew Kazuo Kiriyama didn't want his status stolen. He didn't want the kid who had never touched a basketball in his life to come up and _steal the show, _because he was _Shinji Mimura, _and if anything could distract him from Shuuya Nanahara, it was being _absolutely fuckin' boss at basketball._

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><p><strong>Writing this is just so refreshing. I don't even know. it's great.<strong>


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